CafeChatNoir

Yesterday it was 70 and sunny, today it’s cold, grey, bleak and well, November.

Any outdoor activity today will be me running from car to building and back.

Went out for a nightcap last night, and sat there with my notebook and wrote up a to-do list. My lordy it’s long.

At the townhouse yesterday, I realized that the place REALLY needs new windows. The existing ones are crappy (original), they were crappy when I got there in 1994, and they’re definitely worse now. I honestly don’t think I can put it on the market with those windows. They’re near 30 years old, and it shows. The upside is that I’ve only got 9 windows in the entire place, I know a good contractor to do the work, it’s not that ungodly expensive, and shouldn’t take more than a day for the actual work to be done. The fun will be pushing the approval through the HOA.

The bulk of the estate will be split into our own accounts this week, so after that, I can really go great guns with the contractors, as I’ll actually have money to give them. :) (Weird how they like that.)

Rain was coming down in buckets for a while last night and I’ll admit I had a small panic attack over the townhouse gutters and then remembered…they’re already taken care of. Whew.

So, time for a quick trip to the market for soup supplies (mmmm, baked potato soup), some laundry, get some more boxes emptied (yes, I still have unpacked moving boxes), maybe swing by the townhouse and pickup some of my remaining kitchen stuff that is still there and generally try to get this place a little more under control.

OK, really, going. I swear. God, this weather does NOT help me get motivated.

Balvenie 12 year Doublewood Single Malt is very, very good.

Zum Rheingarten down in Quantico has some of the best German food I’ve had. Small, so you need reservations, but completely worth it.

German Gourmet now does hot brats to go. Yum.

Argentinian wines kick ass. They have such a consistent growing season, you don’t really have to worry about getting a particular vintage. (Yes, I did take a mini class on Argentinian wines tonight, why do you ask?)

Let me say at the outset, if you’re not a wine drinker, I will likely sound like a total wine snob. If you’re an experienced wine drinker, then I am a rank amateur - so take everything with a grain of salt either way.

Tonight’s “dammit, the wine is too earthy for the shrimp” incident got me thinking about things and some rules/guidelines/ideas/whathaveyou.

1. If you have a wine you like, there is nothing wrong with sticking with it.
2. If you have a wine you like, but would like to try other things, a good sommelier is your best friend. You can tell them, “I like this. A lot. Because of these factors.” Based on that, they should be able to recommend other wines that you might like. A smaller wine shop is a great place to find someone like this. Total Wine is great if you know what you’re looking for, but if you’re looking to branch out, I still think a small, local shop is the way to go.
3. Hit the local vineyards and do the wine tastings! They’re not expensive and 9 times out of 10, you get a free wine glass out of the deal. No one gets hurt feelings if you hit a wine you don’t like in the process.
4. When you do wine tastings - take notes. Normally they’ll give you a list of what you’re being served and something to write with. When you’re done, you’ll have a MUCH better idea of what you do or don’t want to buy and why. You don’t have to “know” wines to take good notes - lord knows I don’t and I take a ton of notes. Earthy/peaty/mossy/oaky/deck-wine/crisp/smooth/fruity/sharp/cardboard/spicy/warm/makes-my-teeth-hurt-sweet/chocolatey/quiet, whatever. Things that will mean something to YOU.
5. When you take said notes, KEEP THEM. And then copy them to a freakin’ sticky note and put it on the bottles you buy so later you remember the characteristics of the wine. (This is a new rule for me, instituted tonight, as I now know that I picked the wrong white to go with the shrimp. Had I remembered how earthy this one was, I would have plucked another bottle out.)
6. These notes will serve you well later - many wines have a description on the back, and you will recognize properties from other wines you’ve tasted before. So, if you can’t find a friendly sommelier, you can start picking things out on your own.
7. Toss the rules of “white wine with X and red wine with Y” out the window. You will instinctively know what will go with what based on what YOU like. Tonight’s shrimp definitely needed a white wine. (Or a Zombie had I actually been in a Chinese restaurant, but sadly I don’t have the ingredients for it.) But if it had been shrimp fra diavolo, then I think red would have worked better.
8. If you wouldn’t drink a particular brand of wine, for the love of the gods, don’t cook with it. Crappy wine is still crappy wine, regardless of if it is has been cooked as part of your dinner or not. (Example: Cooking sherry. Ick. ICK. Get real sherry and cook with that. Trust me.)
9> ETA: Don’t be an impatient idiot like me and let the wine freaking BREATHE.

Lift your head, lift your head, Party on.

I love Wegman’s. It’s a total kickass market, and I wish it was closer to my place, but always worth the trip. The only problem is that it takes me 3x as long to shop there because I find myself wandering around aimlessly going, “Oooh, Ahhhh”. How many markets have the “Asian” section actually divided up by country?! The produce section is to die for, and I seriously have to restrain myself in the butcher shop, but I definitely know where I can get some good veal cutlets for some Veal Marsala sometime. There’s also the perk of being able to pull one of the chefs out of the kitchen for a coffee break. ;)

This will pretty much only have meaning to , but I am *this* close to recreating Chili Shrimp!!!!!!!!!!! It was a dish we used to get at the Ryu-En Chinese restaurant in Japan, and found something quite close here, but that restaurant closed. I already know what variations I need to make on the next attempt, but what I’ve got tonight is definitely edible and pretty close, especially for a first attempt at it. I picked up 3 different chili sauces to work with - one would be good added in small amounts to add some heat to things, the second could be used in chemical warfare (a VERY small amount is in the satay marinade), and the third was a Thai Sweet Chili Sauce and that was the one. Next time I need 2 bottles of it.

Oh - and the “easy peel” raw shrimp they have are awesome. I snagged 3/4 of a pound of 31/40’s and they really DO peel insanely easily - they slice them down the back, not so much as to be truly butterflied, but the shells just come right off with no problems.

And the sticky rice came out wonderfully - well, on the second attempt. :-D First time around I did the whole rice vinegar thing which is supposed to give it very sticky properties - yeah, that was so NOT the sticky rice I was looking for - the smell near did me in. I tossed it, and put the garbage bag out immediately. Second go round I just went with the straight rice/water and it was perfect. I have no doubt that it was the fact that I was using Sushi Rice and that stuff is just made to be good and sticky. Somehow I don’t think I am going to have a problem using up the bag.

Only downside is that the white wine I picked out from the beach inventory to go with it is too earthy. Good, but not the right match. I’ll survive, though.

The “just in case the shrimp is a complete disaster” satay that is marinating in the fridge will get to wait until tomorrow.

There is also a wine shop in Fairfax Corner that kicks ass. Il Vino. We went in a week or so ago on a hunt for a decent Bardolino. (Basically a red table wine.) Had a lovely conversation with the owner and discovered it’s just not really imported much in the first place, but he knew exactly what I was talking about, which was awesome, cause I think Dave thought I’d imagined this wine. (Seems to not be terribly well known.) However, he was able to recommend two other very similar wines. One was quite good, the other was PERFECT. Went in today to get a couple more bottles and they were out. :( However, the gentleman working today gave me a recommendation on another red wine and I’ll be trying that out, and told me to call the owner tomorrow and make sure they have more of what I was looking for on order. I want to make sure the next time I go in is when the owner is working because I want to thank him in person for the help finding the wines. I’m betting he can help me pick out a white that will go with the shrimp.

Good food, good wine, good people, good music. Not a whole lot more you can ask for in life.

Oh, and the weekend was by no means a loss whatsoever - found a new winery pointed out by a fellow BT’er: Ingleside Vineyards. 10 tastings for $2.50. My wine supply is restocked.

Dinner was fantastic, frankly, the turkey was even better than Mom’s. Had all our favorites, and skipped the veggies, unless you count pickles.

pointed out that we can add a #12 to the “signs you’re having Thanksgiving Dinner w/ a geek” - The diner to laptop ratio is 1 to 1. Yes, we sat around the living room after dinner with our laptops surfing the web and playing games and watching football, and I got my training plan for the March race put together.

All in all, a good day.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

The obligatory last minute run to the market has been done, the turkey is brining, and actually, there isn’t a whole lot else to do until gets here anyway, so I’ll be spending the next couple hours goofing off.

Need some ideas here. Going to the beach in two weeks. We’ll be in a house w/kitchen and all that good stuff. While there are certain restaurants we’ll be hitting no matter what, there is still the matter of dinner in some nights, and I have near ZERO ideas. So far I have

– hot dogs & beans & such.
– steamed shrimp from one of the local seafood distributors down there.
– pizza the night we get in

The only other thing I can come up with is making a lasagna ahead of time, freezing it, and taking it along as well…

Soooo, any decent “make ahead, freeze & take along” or “easy to transport the raw ingredients” (all in a bigassed cooler) ideas that you’ve got are VERY welcome!!

Amidst a day of firsts yesterday, I finally got a pair of Tevas for the summer. (Yes, I am behind the curve on everything.) Wow,they are sooooooooo comfy. So, I’m now ready for the beach. :)

Realized that my schedule being all over the place next week at least means that I can go get the car inspected tomorrow morning before work, which is good, given that I am almost out of time for that…

Also had to reluctantly admit that a gal can’t live on Chinese, Pizza & Glory Days alone, and headed up to the market and now I’ve got sammich fixins and should be good to go for a couple days. Also cat food. Sheesh, you have to give them treats for breakfast once and they look at you like you’re some kind of monster the rest of the day. (I did give them a real breakfast when I got back.)

20 days til the beach. 20 DAYS!! I can’t wait. I will seriously miss the critters, but… Maybe we can scope out a pet-friendly place for next year while we’re down there. So much to tend to before leaving, seriously need to get a couple lists together, cause this year it’s not just “bring clothes & money”, I’m kinda in charge of everything Mom used to do. (Dammit, she should have left a manual somewhere!) I did call the rental place, I do not have to bring any paperwork, so that’s one less thing to worry about.

In the “good news for a change department” I give you: Dark chocolate seen healthy for arteries So, you no longer have to feel guilty for picking out the Special Dark bars from the Hershey’s mini assortments before putting it in the candy dish on your desk. :)

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with ordering out Chinese food when you’re the only one eating, do NOT order crab rangoon all by yourself. It’s very VERY good, but if you eat the entire order of it all by yourself, you’ll be on the verge of exploding, and the other things you ordered go straight to the fridge for tomorrow’s lunch.

Guess what I had for dinner? :)

No matter how pretty in the package, round steaks are NOT good on the grill. Edible, but still… Next time ask the butcher to go get some filet mignons…

But all in all, a nice afternoon.

The two loaves decided they’d rather be one mutant loaf during the second rise. I’ve managed to get them separated and put them in the oven - I really need a bigger baking sheet for doing this. I seem to recall thinking the same thing last time, and then promptly forgetting about it every time I was anywhere that I could procure a larger one…

They decided they really wanted to be one… Had to cut them apart again after baking. They’ve cooled off enough to eat, so I had to test one. (Two loaf recipes work out so well that way!)

YUM! Crust is kinda chewy, but it’s also not completely cooled yet, but despite the dough fighting back from start to finish, we have a very acceptable product.

Kitchen is all picked up, bread is on its first second rise, and things should be done well before it’s time for me to go. I’m a touch concerned because the dough did not want to cooperate at ALL when I did the rollout… We’ll see how forgiving the recipe is!

Dinner should be fun - it’s gonna be a sleepover too! Linda (who is visiting) is like a second Mom to me. They moved up to PA a couple years ago when they retired, so it will be good to see her. Imagine Martha Stewart without the felony conviction and an actual friendly & nice personality. That’s Linda. There is nothing domestic that she cannot do, and do incredibly well. Cooking, baking, sewing, you name it. So, it’s a tiny bit intimidating to cook for her. :)

So, she’s staying over at Mom’s and I am gonna crash there too and we’re just gonna stay up late and talk and eat and drink wine and have fun.

Baking with a cat that is excessively interested in food is a challenge. First there is convincing Snoopy that no, the flour is not powdered milk, and don’t even THINK about jumping up on the counter to do a swan dive into it. The yeast isn’t either. Nor is the salt. Then I had to forcibly remove him from the butter. (No, that butter did NOT go in the bread, and yes, I should know better than to turn my back for one second with him)

Having dinner at Mom’s tonight, family friend is in town. I’ve been requested to supply the French Bread. :-D

However, considering that it takes about 3 hours start to finish (lots of sit around and wait time…), I had better get cracking on it. Especially considering that I have to get all the kitchen counters cleared off to actually *do* anything…

I sure hope it tastes as good as it looks and smells. :)

Edit: I couldn’t wait any longer and ripped an end off one and buttered it up and OMG it is soooo good!!

Blah, blah, no baking today, yada, yada, flour, yeast, cornmeal, check!, rolling pin, FUCK.

Yes, I pored over the recipe multiple times to ensure I wasn’t missing any ingredients or that there wasn’t anything exotic in it that I would forget at the grocery store…

Unfortunately, I neglected to remember that I tossed my craptastic rolling pin out years ago and never replaced it.

Worked myself into a really fantastic snit - even the cats left the the kitchen in fear of potentially of flying objects. (Sometimes you just have to have a good snit, even over small stupid things. Sometimes especially over small stupid things…)

So, what I had hoped to start as a New Year’s Eve tradition will be another day.

In the meantime, I am going to go take a hot shower, gorge myself of Cheesy Ranch Bacon dip I made to console myself, then it’s off to Target to pick up a prescription and see what they have in the non-crappy rolling pin department. (I will not have another crappy one like I had before…)

Oh - and lest I forget - here’s the too cute Christmas card from :

…and more importantly, happy three day weekend. Once again my rocket scientist coworkers managed to strand two of us while the rest were at lunch. The upside to busy season is that for the next two months, we will be fully staffed. :)

I am in complete and total slacker mode tonight. I’ve got a Grolsch at my side and the cats have been taking turns with lap time.

Tomorrow will be a visit to the market for flour, yeast & cornmeal, and thus will begin my attempts to channel the spirit of one Mrs. Rose Reed* and bake some bread. (I’ve never done “regular” bread in anything but the bread machine before.) We’ll be starting with what appears to be a fairly straightforward French Bread recipe that came with the mixer. If it goes well, I will have bread to take to dinner Saturday night for Grandma’s birthday.

And we have the whole “new year” thing going as well this weekend. Three days to ponder, take stock, think back and look forward. Though every day really is a chance to start fresh, there is something about a new year. A pristine calendar full of blank pages - the hope that this year will be better, different, or just not crappy - maybe this year, the resolutions will stick, things will go well, mistakes will not be made, and the past will be learned from for a change.

Myself, I’ll be writing up my resolutions this year, as I always do. I know many who don’t do it anymore (or never have) for various perfectly legitimate reasons, but I like to think that I’m just not giving up. :)

Peace & Happy New Year.

*The wonderful woman that used to live next door to us in San Diego, and was like another grandmother to me, and was easily one of the best cooks on the planet.

Or un-boxing day as the case may be. Just wrestled my Billy Joel “Kohuept” (can’t get the cyrllics right) cd out of it’s case and loving it.

Got the mixer out of the box, and dayum, it is good and heavy - but I will have NO worries about it bouncing about the counter doing heavy duty stuff. Can’t decide yet what to try out on it first. Pretty much anything is going to require a trip to the market, as I have no flour in the house at the moment. I’m thinking I should just close my eyes and pick something from the recipe book - it will be easier than making a decision! (I’ve got it on good authority that the recipes that came with the mixer are quite good, plus someone has gotten me the English Muffin Bread recipe that they don’t print anymore)

Been looking over the attachments available. Definitely getting the shredder. Tired of grating my knuckles and paying way too much for pre-shredded cheese. OMG, They have an ice cream maker attachment. I need that like I need a hole in the head, but WOW. Will probably get a second bowl for it. This is going to be a VERY NICE thing to have in the kitchen.

Been a nice lazy Sunday, just puttering about more than anything, but I did get some laundry going so I have clean pants to wear to work tomorrow. With my sweater from Grandma that can only be described as “Grover Blue”. I love it. :)

This week is the calm before the storm at work. Busy season starts 1/3/05. Last year wasn’t as bad as I had expected, and I think this year will be OK - especially if I don’t get caught there til past 7:30 the first three nights like last year. (I am much better at telling folks to suck it up and wait until the morning, and/or, “No, I will NOT write you a script to fix your screw up, you fix it yourself, you overpaid data entry monkey.”)

Big things on tap for the week are getting the kitchen rearranged to find the optimal spot for the mixer, make something with it!, and coming up with New Year’s Resolutions that I know I won’t keep. :)

Eve is so cute. I just took her cow hoof away from her (she only gets it for a certain amount of time, I don’t need a puking dog on my hands) - she doesn’t growl or try to hide it, but she did wrap her paws around it and hang on to it for dear life, and the look on her face was, “Damn, opposable thumbs would be a HUGE plus right now.”

Second loaf of pumpkin bread stuck to the bottom of the pan. Guess I’ll just have to eat that one myself. :-D

All the baking that had to be done tonight is done - now the cleanup…. eeccchhhh. It’s not even the cleanup from the baking, cause I’ve been doing that as I go along (yay me) - it’s the rest of the place. The dining room still looks like a large natural disaster hit it from when the appliances came and I never did get everything back where it belongs.

I know it won’t take terribly long once I get started - it’s the getting started that’s always the kicker, isn’t it?

So, yes, cleaning. Yeah. All over it…

Not quite finished with the baking, the pumpkin bread is going right now - but here are the results of this weekends efforts:

Cookies!! We’ve got peanut butter, oatmeal chocolate chip, sugar, plain oatmeal and chocolate chip.

This photo was immediately followed by me yelling, “GET OUTTA THAT!!!!” (He did.)

My kitchen helper:

You know it’s time to go ahead and call it a night when you start thinking, “Well, I could just make one really BIG peanut butter cookie and that would be sooo much quicker.”

Overall, an extremely productive day in the kitchen. Scads of cookies - chocolate chip, oatmeal, peanut butter & sugar cookies so far. Everything is cleaned up and ready to go for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and the pumpkin bread tomorrow.

Think I can finally say I have got a bit of holiday cheer going - things seem to be coming together and I am actually feeling like everything will get done, and I won’t even have to be up until 3 AM for the next 6 nights.

My biggest problem with the holidays is that it’s really hard for me to get into it until about the last week before Christmas. At which point, it’s kinda late to really be starting anything…

Of course, I could carry over the late-breaking enthusiasm into doing things ahead of time for next year…. HAHAHAHAHA. OK, it’s a nice thought, but probably not terribly realistic. :)

Chocolate chip cookies are done, sugar cookies are on deck. Not a single one burned!!!!

The scarf that really, really needs to be done by tomorrow night is coming along quite well.

The cats are exceptionally ticked at me as I won’t let them have any of the cookies, nor will I let them attack the knitting. I’m such a meanie.

Flank steak & noodles for dinner. Came out very well, grill works like a champ.

Learned that I need to be extra careful with the cancel button on the oven. Thought I was turning off the timer and unfortunately, turned off the oven altogether. Sadly, the rolls just could not be salvaged.

Was going to have some wine with dinner but totally forgot about it in all the juggling of food - guess that will have to be desert. :)

Clean up first, though. Bah.

Can’t argue with a horoscope like this:

Even coffee won’t boost your energy today. Try sneaking a catnap instead.

I wasn’t really planning on trying to do much of anything today as it is, so this works out well! ;)

Thanks to Amazon, I am near done with my shopping. I am very grateful to have a family that loves to read. Tomorrow should be the last of the shopping, next weekend is baking and that’s it.

Looks like Christmas Eve will just be lots of appetizers. A run to Trader Joe’s should take care of that quite nicely.

Perhaps that nap is in order.

Looking at the oven, I have realized something. If the leveling feet don’t have another 1/4 inch of height left in them, I’m really screwed. While the width of the oven itself is fine, the top is made to extend over the counter on either side. One the one hand, this is good, because you don’t have crud getting between the oven & cabinets. But, this could be bad if they can’t jack up the height just a bit more… (I swear, I really did measure everything several times…)

Kitchen is done, laundry is in the dryer. Dining room is still a disaster, but I can tend to that tomorrow. Main thing is that everything is out of the way for the oven to be installed. Will be nice to have it on the wall instead of in the middle of the room.

I’ve run out of bin liners, which means a trip to Costco is in my very near future. Kinda dreading that - maybe after work one night wouldn’t be as bad as the weekend?

You know, something just occured to me. When dumbass cat (aka Target) made his dash out to the woods the other night, he ended up back at the front door with no problems. Til now, he has never been more than 20 feet in either direction from the house. I had left the front door open (the screen is still in the storm door), and Snoopy sat there yelling while I was gone. I wonder if Target was able to find the house again cause Snoopy was hollering for him?